Taking the theme ‘Quality, Equity, Dignity for every newborn at every health facility and everywhere’, the National Newborn Week 2020 event was chaired by Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Friday.

The event is being observed from November 15-21 to "reinforce the importance of newborn health as a key priority area of the health sector and to reiterate commitment at the highest level". The minister said that India has taken giant strides to achieve targets set for reducing the newborn mortality rate and stillbirth rate.

"India became the first country to launch the India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) in 2014, in alignment with the Global Every Newborn Action Plan towards eliminating preventable deaths of newborns and stillbirths. Initiatives like Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan scheme are testimony to our commitment to avoid all preventable maternal or pregnancy-related deaths as well as that of the new-borns. We are working meticulously to update our practices and plug any gaps in the system to improve our performance," he said. "Health has been my passion for decades. The government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is even more passionate about ensuring 'Health For All'.

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